The present invention relates to digital-to-analog conversion and particularly to an apparatus and a method for digital-to-analog conversion using an array of unit elements. A digital-to-analog converter is commonly referred to as “DAC” in the art.
In digital-to-analogue conversion, the originating digital signals often have a high resolution, for example, at 16 bits. Due to their high number of quantized levels, high-resolution digital signals often require complex electronics and components for suitable conversion to an analog signal. Techniques exist to allow conversion of high-resolution digital signals to analog signals using low-resolution components. However, those may lead to distortions such as quantization noise in the analog signals.
Furthermore, as semiconductor line width decreases, it is difficult to achieve a highly linear current source and thus to construct current-source-based digital-to-analog converters with good linear characteristics. There is an unmet need for digital-to-analog converters with highly linear characteristics and low quantization noise.